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Gmail.com (T.C.); [email protected] (K.A.); [email protected] (N.-M.K.) Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +30-210-529-4626 These authors contributed equally to this work.Citation: Thanopoulos, R.; Chatzigeorgiou, T.; Argyropoulou, K.; Kostouros, N.-M.; Bebeli, P.J. State of Crop Landraces in Arcadia (Greece) and In-Situ Conservation Potential. Diversity 2021, 13, 558. https:// doi.org/10.3390/d13110558 Academic Editor: Michael Wink Received: 11 October 2021 Accepted: 28 October 2021 Published: 1 NovemberAbstract: Genetic erosion of landraces is growing worldwide, however you’ll find nevertheless regions rich in landrace biodiversity, for instance islands and mountainous isolated areas. Defining the motives of landrace abandonment in these places, too as collecting and preserving landraces, is of outmost value. Within this context, the Agricultural University of Athens organized missions in 53 villages of Arcadia, a prefecture rich in floral biodiversity and variable Ethyl Vanillate References climatic conditions and topography. The aim was to collect samples in the on-farm (in-situ) conserved annual crop landraces and record the location of perennial crop neighborhood varieties. Considering the fact that regular understanding and practices have been playing a essential part within the survival of landraces and local varieties, details was obtained through personal interviews with locals employing semi-structured questionnaires. Despite the fact that the amount of accessions collected from Arcadia has been reduced (141 samples) compared to previous collections and genetic erosion is advancing dramatically for cereals and pulses, a significant variety of landraces continues to be cultivated by the locals. The motives of landrace abandonment had been other sources of occupation than agriculture, which include public service jobs, mechanization, and commercialization of agriculture. Gastronomic and agro-tourism as well as European Union trademarks and policies can help locals in landrace/local varieties in-situ conservation. Keywords: collecting mission; conservation; conservation varieties; diversity; ex-situ; genetic material; landraces; local varieties; farmers’ varieties; Peloponnese1. Introduction There are plenty of references on the value of landraces (recognized also as local varieties, farmers’ varieties, or conservation varieties) for their PF-06873600 supplier direct traditional use by humans and their worth as genetic resources. According to Zeven et al. [1], the initial reference regarding landraces was produced in 1890s, while 20 years later the first definitions on this topic had been published. Landraces are generally defined as dynamic populations of a cultivated plant species with historical origin and distinct identity and are connected using a set of farming practices and knowledge [2,3]. For centuries, crop landraces have already been the genetic material used for agriculture and have played a basic part within the history of crops worldwide, regarding crop improvement and production [4]. Landraces have long been recognized as a supply of traits for nearby adaptation, tension tolerance, yield stability, and nutritional excellent [5]. Benlioglu and Adak [6] highlighted that plant genetic resources are the biological basis of international meals safety. Due to the fact cultivars normally lack alleles that contribute to tolerance or resistance to biotic and abiotic stress variables, breeders use plant genetic sources (landraces and crop wild relatives) for the improvement of varieties [6]. Additionally, as described by Azzez [2], despite the fact that landraces are.
